A North-ern ass

description below

“Satire on the election for County Durham, 14 April 1784: Sir Thomas Clavering and Sir John Upton, one headless, holding a caption labelled ‘The Irish Faction for ever’ and carrying the other, who has no feet, on his back, who says ‘I serv’d you as long as I could stand’ and carries captions lavelled ‘Coal owners Bill’ and ‘A command in India’; both seated on an ass facing left, which brays ‘Thus I go to Parliament and am not the first Ass that has farted for preferment, but this is dirty work and hard Labour’ and which has a collar labelled ‘I speak for my Master / Populus me sibilat at plaudo ipse domi’ and strips at the saddle labelled ‘Curse all Pitts / But a Coal-Pitt’; with the ass’ droppings falling on a crest with the motto ‘Diem Perdidi’; a mitre, crozier and sword and label ‘At rest’ on the ground in the centre, playing cards and papers labelled ‘Turnpike Speech / Election Speech’ to left; a milestone to right labelled ‘From Durham / T: C / J: E / 14 April 1784’.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Hutchinson, W., active 1773-1784, printmaker.
  • Title: A North-ern ass [graphic].
  • Publication: [London?] : [publisher not identified], [1784]

Catalog Record

784.00.00.80

Acquired November 2020

Loose principles

description below

“Fox rises from a close-stool; Sheridan (left) is about to apply a syringe, inscribed ‘R——ts [Regent’s] Clyster’, to his rectum. Burke (right), wearing a Jesuit’s biretta (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6026), gropes in the close-stool, holding in his left hand its lid, inscribed ‘Not searching from Precedents but Consequences’ (a characteristic dictum); he says, “To Ordure – Ordure” (Burke was often called to order for his speeches on the Regency, cf. British Museum Satires No. 7499, &c). Fox says, “Exegi Monumentum cere perennias, or the finishing Stroke” (perhaps an allusion to the revolution Pillar, see British Museum Satires No. 7396). In his hand is a paper inscribed ‘Magna Charta Non Posteris sed Posterioribus’; his posterior is inscribed ‘Patriotic Bum’ and ‘Vox Populi’. He stands on a paper inscribed ‘Resolutions of P——l——t.’ Sheridan is ‘Principal Promoter of loose Principles’; under his right foot is an open book: ‘Congreve Plays School for Scandal’, probably implying plagiarism by Sheridan (cf. Moore, ‘Life of Sheridan’, p. 180, where resemblances between ‘The School for Scandal’ and ‘The Double Dealer’ are noted). The background is a library wall: a book-case containing folio volumes in some disorder is flanked by scowling busts of ‘Wat Tyler’ and ‘Jack Kade’. The books are inscribed: ‘The Laws of Pharaoh’ (Faro, cf. British Museum Satires No. 5972), ‘Political Prints’, ‘Life of Oliver Cromwell’ (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6380, &c), ‘Cataline’ (cf. British Museum Satires No. 6784), ‘Memoirs of Sam House’.”–British Museum online catalogue.

 

  • Printmaker: Rowlandson, Thomas, 1756-1827, printmaker.
  • Title: Loose principles [graphic].
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. Jany. 21, 1789, by S. Fores, No. 3 Piccadilly, [21 January 1789]

Catalog Record

789.01.21.01+

Acquired May 2020

Anticipation, or, Taxes as they will be!!

In seven scenes in a design of two tiers, citizens dispute the oppressive fees imposed by a zealous tax collector who taxes bugs, pets, a bulbous nose and a runny nose, corns on a foot, and a man’s skin. In the scene on the upper right, the tax collector penalizes a man whom he accuses of evading tax as he defecates in a bush.

  • Printmaker: Cruikshank, Isaac, 1756?-1811?, printmaker.
  • Title: Anticipation, or, Taxes as they will be!! [graphic] / Woodward delnt.
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. June 1st, 1796, by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly, corner of Sackville Street …, [1 June 1796]

Catalog Record 

796.06.01.03+

Acquired October 2019

A toad in a hole

“A fat, ugly woman, seated full face on a commode, in the form of a chair.”–British Museum online catalogue.

  • Printmaker: Grinagain, Giles
  • Title: A toad in a hole [graphic] / Giles Grinagain invt. et fect.
  • Publication: [London] : Pubd. by S.W. Fores, No. 50 Piccadilly, Jany. 2d, 1804.

Catalog Record

804.01.02.15

Acquired November 2017